540 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



segment 9; black markings suffusing segment 10; a black mark on the 

 middle of each of the inferior appendages; lateral setae 12 to 14; mentals 

 about 15, the nine outer ones longer; teeth obliquely oval, as high as 

 wide, spinulose at apex; tarsus with its second joint twice as long and 

 its third, thrice as long as the first. 



No dorsal hooks at all; lateral spines long, a little incurvate; those 

 of the eighth segment reaching the level of the apical border of the ninth 

 segment ; those of the ninth segment twice as long as that segment, 

 their apices reaching the level of the tips of the lateral appendages; 

 superior appendage as long as or a little longer than the inferiors ; laterals 

 one fifth shorter. 



The nymphs of this genus may be distinguished from those of 

 Tramea by the greater length of the superior abdominal appendage, 

 by the greater depth of the incisions between the teeth on the opposed 

 margins of the lateral labial lobes, and by the brevity of the movable 

 hook — hardly longer than the teeth, while in Tramea it is nearly as 

 long as the setae. 



Order NEUROPTERA 

 A7tt lions, aphis lions, dobsons, etc. 



Of this group as now delimited by most entomologists, a small pro- 

 portion is aquatic, constituting one family (Sialidae) and part of another 

 (Hemerobiidae). Members of the order agree in the possession of 

 carnivorous habits and in their type of metamorphosis, and in little else. 

 The families of Neuroptera occurring within the state of New York may 

 be separated by the following table. 



KEY TO THE FAMILIES OF NEUROPTERA 



a Antennae enlarged toward the tip, club-shaped, or with a terminal knob 

 (Larvae terrestrial: ant lions, etc.; the commoner oues make the well- 

 known "pitfalls" in sand or dnst in sequestered places. Pupa inclosed in 

 cocoon of silk, hidden in the same places as those in which the larva lives) 



Myrmeleonidae 

 aa Antennae without terminal enlarf^emeut 



& Fore legs fitted for seizing prey, stouter than the other legs ; attached to 

 the front end of an extremely long prothorax 



(The larvae, so far as known, live parasitically in the nests of spiders 

 and wasps, and transform to pupae in the same places within a cocoon 



of silk) Mantispidae 



&& Fore legs not thicker than other legs ; not fitted for grasping ; not attached 

 at the front end of a very long prothorax 

 c Wings with few and simple veins, and covered with a whitish powder ■ 

 (Minute and rare insects ; larvae, so far as known, arboreal ; feed- 

 ing on aphids ; pupating in a double layered cocoon of silk) 



Coniopterygidae 



